After weeks of prepping for our anniversary parties, 16 family members coming and going, for over a week, kids filling up the swimming pool all day long , today is our first day alone with no pressing obligations. All I can think about is making a pot of chili, with a bunch of my myriad garden peppers, and adding onions, garlic, and yes beans! It has been so hot that my San Marzano peppers actually cooked on the vine, so will be throwing those in, as well. None of the other peppers cooked, however.

Heinz, looks incredible as always. Your desserts are so perfect, they almost look like they're made of wax. Amazing.

Here at Chez J, on the stove right now is a pot of pork rib bones simmering with onion, star anise, a few shitake mushrooms and some star anise. The resultant broth will be the soup base for wontons I'll make from the meat removed from the smoked pork ribs. No recipe, just an idea I had for how to use up the leftovers from the 40 lbs I smoked yesterday. Haven't figured out how I'll season the wontons just yet, but since I'm going Asian with this, green onions should be part of it.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

I have the remains of a batch of merguez sausage that's timing out in the fridge, so tomorrow night I'm going to form them all into kofteh (meatballs), brown them in olive oil, and finish them off in a tomato sauce. Moroccan "spaghetti and meatballs".

Paul Winalski wrote:I have the remains of a batch of merguez sausage that's timing out in the fridge, so tomorrow night I'm going to form them all into kofteh (meatballs), brown them in olive oil, and finish them off in a tomato sauce. Moroccan "spaghetti and meatballs".

-Paul W.

This was timely. I made merguez on July 4th. Have about half-dozen or so left. Your Moroccan spaghetti is inspired, and will be my dinner tomorrow night. Thanks for that!

"...To undersalt deliberately in the name of dietary chic is to omit from the music of cookery the indispensable bass line over which all tastes and smells form their harmonies." -- Robert Farrar Capon

Catching up a little here. Saturday night was chicken breasts stuffed with thin slices of truffled salami, mozzarella, and sauteed chard. They were served with mashed potatoes, a tomato-cucumber salad, and roasted brussels sprouts.

The chicken came out beautifully, but I would have liked it more had I been able to get more of the stuffing into it. I'll have to work on that.....

Tonight it is bone-in grilled pork chops with a nice rub. Green beans sauteed in a bit of butter and evoo, then a little sugar, garlic salt, white pepper, sweet basil and cherry tomatoes are added at the end. Thick tomato slices with Himalayan pink salt and Thai Basil.

I'm swimming in leftover ribs. Today's project: repurpose! So I'm imagining a wonton soup made with a smoked pork filling. That is, copying Daniel Boulud's hamburger technique of mixing cooked shortribs into raw beef, I've ripped a bowlful of meat off of some of the bones, braised it a bit further for plusher texture and will mix it with raw ground pork, rice wine, ginger, green onions and a fine dice of waterchestnuts to make a filling. The bones were simmered with yet more ginger and shitake mushroooms to create a flavorful broth.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

We had penne in pesto with basil straight from our deck planter, garlicky Italian sausages, and sliced tomatoes. It made for a beautiful plate, sorry no pictures from this technical incompetent guy! We washed it down with a 2010 Knapp, Finger Lakes, Cabernet Franc. Delicious!

Jenise wrote:I'm swimming in leftover ribs. Today's project: repurpose! So I'm imagining a wonton soup made with a smoked pork filling. That is, copying Daniel Boulud's hamburger technique of mixing cooked shortribs into raw beef, I've ripped a bowlful of meat off of some of the bones, braised it a bit further for plusher texture and will mix it with raw ground pork, rice wine, ginger, green onions and a fine dice of waterchestnuts to make a filling. The bones were simmered with yet more ginger and shitake mushroooms to create a flavorful broth.

You are so creative. I used to cook like that too, but now, we keep it simpler. I remember one time I had two dishes of my creation going on in the kitchen with three kids running around. There were so many ingredients ready on my prep board. The kids distracted me, and I mixed up the ingredients. I was so upset, what to do...I said nothing, did my best and it turned out just fine....although I knew and was not to happy about it. Kids and Gene ate it all up.

Nothing too crazy but we're really getting into summer and earlier this week had orecchiette with chanterelles, basil and pecorino romano. Hard to complain. Tonight will be rigatoni with the first fresh tomato sauce of 2013, eggplant, and basil. At least something good comes out of summer heat!